Nothing, Anything
by ErinOfSlytherin
Summary: A look into the very different minds of Peter Pettigrew and Severus Snape about how they view their friends and what they will do for them. DH compliant. Not slash
1. First Year

A/N: much thanks to whitehound, who pointed out a few stupid mistakes on my part.

Peter Pettigrew thought his life at Hogwarts was going well so far. Of the other three boys in Gryffindor, none of them hated him. They had barely known each other a week, and yet Remus Lupin was always willing to explain what they were learning in class, and James Potter and Sirius Black let him help them pull pranks.

He had been incredibly nervous about coming to Hogwarts and learning about magic, but he couldn't deny that the idea thrilled him. Magic! What he could have done to the boys who bullied him in school with what he had learned in only a week filled his dreams. Not that he cared about what those boys thought of him anymore, he thought. None of them were even half as cool as James and Sirius, or even a quarter as smart as Remus.

As James called him over, he thought he was so glad to have such wonderful friends. There was nothing on Earth he would trade their friendship for.

Nothing.

Severus Snape looked wistfully at the Gryffindor table where Lily Evans sat. She was his best, and only, friend, and he couldn't even sit with her at meals. He was glad that she was making friends, of course, but he was still worried she would forget about him. His friendship with the Muggleborn Gryffindor was already causing him problems in Slytherin. If it wasn't for all of the dark spells he already knew, he had no doubt his house mates would have made his life a living hell.

He looked once more at Lily as she stood up and met his eyes. She motioned towards the library and he jumped up, grabbing his bag. They always met in the library after dinner to do their homework and just hang out. It was the highlight of his day, and he felt so lucky to have her in his life. He wouldn't trade her love, friendship, and respect for anything.

Anything.


	2. Fifth Year

A/N: much thanks to whitehound, who pointed out a few stupid mistakes on my part.

Peter Pettigrew laughed in delight as James caught the snitch once more. This was his favorite trick of James', and he never tired of seeing it. James was teaching him to do it, up in the privacy of their dorm room. No matter how many tries it took for Peter to catch it, James never laughed and was always supportive. That his best friend was James Potter was so awesome, Peter thought.

He laughed as Sirius lazily told James to stop, taking his handsome friend's teasing good-naturedly. He realized that Sirius had come from a terrible household and that his jibes and jests were simply the only way he knew how to interact with his friends. Peter didn't mind, because no matter how many times Sirius taunted him, he was always ready to defend him from Snape or Malfoy.

He looked at the last Marauder, Remus Lupin, Moony, the one who held them all together. They wouldn't be half as close as they were if not for his terrible secret. Peter shivered a bit at the memory of that first full moon running with him, though whether he shivered from fear or excitement he didn't know. Not that it mattered; apart form that one night ever month, Peter had never met anyone as gentle as his scarred friend.

He knew that the four of them, the Marauders, made up the elite of Hogwarts. Girls fell over the four of them, even Peter, just because he was a Marauder, and boys wanted to be them. Sitting there with his three friends, talking about nothing, he felt warm and welcome, something he never felt anywhere else, not even at Hogwarts. He knew that he was supposed to be brave, but the world scared him. Somewhere out there was Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who would as soon slit his throat as look at him because of his Muggle parents.

But Peter knew he had nothing to fear as long as he was with the Marauders. He knew, deep in his soul, that there was nothing he wouldn't do for them.

Nothing.

Severus Snape had to hold back the tears he felt burning behind his eyes yet again as he saw Lily walking across the grounds, deep in conversation with Remus Lupin, one of that bastard Potter's friends. It had been a week since The Incident and she hadn't spoken to him once after their conversation outside of Gryffindor Tower, and they were leaving Hogwarts tomorrow.

He spotted Lucius Malfoy and walked towards him. He was torn—torn between his undying love of Lily Evans and the sense of loyalty he felt towards his fellow Slytherins and their cause. He was sixteen now, and Lucius Malfoy had approached him about joining Lord Voldemort's elite cadre of supporters. He had put him off, knowing exactly what Lily would think if he joined them, but Lily had already made it perfectly clear that she wouldn't have anything more to do with him.

As Lucius Malfoy congratulated him on his wise decision to join the Death Eaters, he was looking behind the blond boy's shoulder at Lily—admiring her, loving her, from afar, the only way he would be able to do so anymore.

Severus Snape knew that even if he could never have her, he would love her forever and do anything for her.

Anything.


	3. 1981

MWPP—1 year after leaving Hogwarts

Peter Pettigrew drew his cloak around him, desperate not to be noticed. He was in Knockturn Alley on his newest assignment for the Order, his first solo mission.

Order meeting were the highlight of his life. When he was with the Order, he was one of the Marauders, held high in the esteem of Dumbledore. He was with Prongs, Moony, and Padfoot, and he felt safe. Even when on a mission for the Order, he felt safe as long as there was another Marauder there. Creeping along the alleys and trying to avoid the notice of Malfoy or Lestrange, it almost felt like they were back at Hogwarts.

But he would be alone tonight. Lily was pregnant, due at any moment, and Dumbledore had been kind enough to leave James with her; tonight was also the full moon, meaning Remus and Sirius would be busy. Peter had offered to stay as well, but Dumbledore's mission was urgent, and Peter, as a Marauder, had been his first choice.

He wrinkled his nose in distaste at the thought of his mission. He had to follow Severus Snape, a suspected Death Eater and a definite greasy git, and see what he did. Normally the job was Frank Longbottom's, but his wife Alice was also pregnant and near delivery.

As he spotted Snape up ahead, he couldn't help but remember all of the tricks they had pulled on the former Slytherin.

And as the Death Eaters grabbed him and he felt the excruciating pain of the Crucio, he thought that this would never have happened if even one of the Marauders were with him. As his silent screams rent the air, Peter Pettigrew knew he wasn't strong enough to do this alone' he knew that there was nothing he would be able to keep from these vicious dark wizards.

Nothing.

Severus Snape had delivered his intelligence to the Dark Lord gleefully. Now he could only stand and stare, horrorstruck, as the Dark Lord told his followers that the prophecy must mean Lily's child. He listened, barely able to keep the myriad of emotions he was feeling off his face, as the Dark Lord decided he would kill them.

He begged his Master to spare her, his Lily, his love, and was relieved when he acquiesced. He knew the Master only did so as a reward for Snape's deliverance of the news and thanked Merlin that he had been the one to overhear Dumbledore and that woman.

But his heart was still thumping, his stomach was still nauseous. He knew, deep down, that it wasn't enough. That Lily would never give her firstborn son over to be killed, that she would die to protect him. He fought down the panic that threatened to overwhelm him, searching his mind for some way to warn her, to protect her.

There was, he knew, only one person who could stop the Dark Lord, one person who would listen to him and believe him: Dumbledore. He felt his heart relax and the nausea subside. He would find the old wizard, make him listen! He would save her, even if it meant betraying his Master, even if it meant his death. And he thought all of this while listening to Lord Voldemort make plans for her death, shielding his mind with every bit of skill at Occlumency he had.

For Severus Snape knew, deep in his soul, that he still loved her; he loved her more than Voldemort, more than life itself, and that he wouldn't let anything harm her.

Anything.


End file.
